Health and safety? Lets just blow it up.

China is in the midst of an economic boom the scale of which I've never seen in Europe; and just like the West, not everyone is benefiting from this. 

There appears to be the same three classes of lifestyle (top, middle, bottom) but the gap between the top and bottom rungs is unimaginable to an English mind. 

There are the new uber rich that swish around with their lapdogs and Gucci knickers trying their best to run over anyone on foot with their monster 4x4's; think Gangnam style and you are on the right track (I didn't realise the song was a piss take of the new rich and that Gangnam is a district in Seoul, Korea). There is the middle, which like the West has its own sub divisions and its own pretensions. I have the impression that these people are under an immense amount of pressure to live outside of their means and to spend their money on luxury items that will show their status. Sound familiar so far?

The bottom lifestyle class is where the differences are very apparent. There are unemployment benefits… sort of. How much and how difficult it is to get depends on the province in which you live and if you have been working in the last 12 months. What is very clear though, is that the benefits are enough to stop you from starving to death for a very short period of time until you find employment; they will not pay your rent, your Sky TV subscription or have enough left over to pay your mobile phone bills. It is always preferable to undertake any work; in fact it is essential.

The street cleaners are not ashamed of their work; there is an army of them employed by the government to do this job (and another army privately employed for when there is not enough of the government supplied workers). Shovelling winter snow and ice in temperatures down to -30 and then when it thaws cleaning the detritus of the masses would be unthinkable in the UK. Ok it gets warmer here in the summer but will get a whole lot worse in terms of stink. Stopping for a minute to smile and laugh while a ridiculous looking lǎowài (foreigner) wants to take a picture of you going about your daily tasks is also just as unlikely.

   

Yesterday was the end of the spring holiday (Chinese new year) and they finished it in true Chinese style; loud, spectacular and very messy. The more money you have, the bigger your box of explosives. Many street corners had firework stands (complete with large handy fire extinguishers) which were maned by cheery looking fellas doing brisk business for the whole of the two week holiday period. 

It began at sundown and went on for around 5 hours over the whole city and was what I imagine a war breaking out sounds like, pure anarchy. People were wondering into the middle of a main street, placing a box of explosives on the floor, lighting it and then walking casually away. In the area where we are staying, they have a large public square. Public areas are very important here as people do not have gardens (it is an area full of tower blocks). Everyone contributes their bombs to the display. Children with bangers exploding them in mounds of snow next to 30 women dancing in snowsuits, no one bats an eyelid. 

People carefully lay out strips of bangers 5 meters long with a box of rockets at the end next to a watching group of men who are busy chatting, smoking and spitting.

The nice thing about it is that none of this relied on government (= taxpayers) funded organized displays. Everyone contributed their box into the display, everyone cooperated with each other in the organization and no one was injured. This particular display went on for about 1 hour and a half.

This morning at around 7am the street cleaners were out in force, by 10am it was as if nothing had happened. The only clue is the haze left in the windless air from the smoke, everyone is back to work, the holiday is over and the evil spirits have been frightened away for sure.